Well folks, today is the day. Week 1 has snuck up on us like the tortoise did on the hare. All the hard work begins now, lets stream!
That’s right, the draft isn’t job done. It’s not even half done. It’s the foundation to our house that we will build over the next 16/17 weeks. Some players sit there and think that the job is done at the draft. However, it is barely the beginning. The roster gives you the star players, and a spine, but your roster in Week 16 will look very different to the one start with this weekend.
Two integral parts of building a championship roster during the season is Trades and The Waiver Wire. Trades are hard to pull off in re-draft but not impossible. The goal is to not try and win the trade. It is to acquire someone who will add to your roster. If you have 8WR’s and 4RBs, it makes sense to trade a reasonably productive WR for an RB you need and want, even if you are making an opponent slightly stronger. As much as we would like to, other than our trade clinic shows, we will struggle to help you with trade evaluation. Which leads me to…
The Waiver Wire
I will be writing an article every week on here to assist with the Waiver Wire, and who you should grab. We will also be talking about it on the podcast, so you have multiple forms to absorb the information. I would say the written version is a guide to what is on the podcast. It helps to provide the context, so having both is important.
The Wire, if played correctly, is your ticket to the playoffs. Whether you do traditional waiver claims, or FAAB (Free Agent Acquisition Budget), we will help you come up with some options to help improve your roster.
In addition to all of this, I decided to write this column every week. I have been curious to see if I can stream a number 1 in the position as a collective over the course of the season. That means from Weeks 1-16, picking somebody off the waiver wire, and adding their score to the culminative total and see where I end up at each position group. That’s why this column will exist.
The Rules
I won’t stream a player that is 30% or above owned in ESPN leagues at their position at the time of writing the Waiver Wire Pickups column each week. I can select a player as often as I choose, as long as they do not go above 30% owned. Should they go above this number, and then fall back below it again, I am available to select them.
There will be selecting somebody from the Waiver Wire Pickup column every week where possible. If not, due to ownership, I’ll write a reason why I picked them underneath. However, if they are in the column, which the majority of players will, then I will just put the name.
I will be using 6 point per touchdown across all players and 0.5pt PPR. No special rules or modifications other than the above.
This column will track the progress each week of the player selected and set the cumulative total at the end.
I will be doing this for 1QB, 1RB, 1WR, 1TE, 1K, 1D/ST every week. I expect Running Backs to be the hardest challenge to stream, given the lack of RB1’s on the Waiver Wire. Even if I find one, I won’t get them for longer than a week or two before the rest of the players catch up and select him. Wide Receiver will also be a challenge. However, it wouldn’t be fun if it was easy.
Week One Stream Selections
QB- Josh Allen BUF
RB- Frank Gore BUF
WR- Ted Ginn NO
TE- Darren Waller- OAK
K- Matt Bryant ATL
D/ST- Cowboys
Check out the Waiver Wire Pickups article or the podcast I dropped on Tuesday for the reasons why.
Until next week Rush Nation, good luck for week 1. And don’t forget; Keep Rushing.
-Murf (@5yardrush)
